New Books! 3/29/16

Short-listed for the Man Booker Prize. In a dilapidated shared house in Sheffield, Tarlochan, a former rickshaw driver, will say nothing about his life in Bihar. Avtar and Randeep are middle-class boys whose families are slowly sinking into financial ruin, bound together by Avtar’s secret. Randeep, in turn, has a visa wife across town. She is Narinder, and her story is the most surprising of them all. These four characters will have to rely on one another in ways they never could have foreseen, and in which their hopes of breaking free of the past are decimated by the punishing realities of immigrant life.

New York Times bestselling author Philip Kerr is a MysterYPeople favorite, and we’re thrilled to have him here for the return of Bernie Gunther, a sardonic former Berlin homicide detective and unwilling SS officer. In this latest adventure, writer W. Somerset Maugham makes an appearance. Even in 1956, the impact of the second World War lingers in Europe and Gunther is, as ever, in the middle of it.

Did you know that giraffes can lick their ears? Or that ostriches can’t walk backwards? These and many more charming quirks about the animal kingdom (Ants never sleep! Starfish don’t have brains!) are detailed in this visually sophisticated gift book. Swedish artist Maja Säfström’s entrancing illustrations bring these captivating facts to life—making this a must-have for animal and art lovers both young and old.

Sometimes it takes a new friend to bring you home. It’s the first real summer since the accident that killed Cedar’s father and younger brother, Ben. Cedar and what’s left of her family are returning to the town of Iron Creek for the summer. They’re just settling into their new house when a boy named Leo, dressed in costume, rides by on his bike. Intrigued, Cedar follows him to the renowned Summerlost theatre festival. Soon, she not only has a new friend in Leo and a job working concessions at the festival, she finds herself surrounded by mystery. The mystery of the tragic, too-short life of the Hollywood actress who haunts the halls of Summerlost.

“Compiled by the legendary, award-winning editor Ellen Datlow, The Doll Collection is a compendium of original stories dealing about one of the things that scares us all: DOLLS! Featuring all-new tales by such luminaries as Joyce Carol Oates, Tim Lebbon, and John Langan, this is book that’s sure to hold a place on the bookshelf in your dollhouse. This book is also the May selection for the Nightmare Factory Book club!” -Joe T.

Thanks to social media, a great renaissance of public shaming is sweeping our land. Justice has been democratized. The silent majority are getting a voice. But what are we doing with our voice? According to Jon Ronson, who travelled the world meeting recipients of high-profile shaming, we are mercilessly finding people’s faults, using shame as a form of social control. This is a hilarious full of eye-opening truths about the escalating war on human flaws – and the very scary part we all play in it.